Chapter 4
“I hate to move you, kid, but we gotta get out of here.”
Peter felt a hand on his shoulder and cracked his eyes open. His body was on fire, like his skin had been scorched, but the heavy feeling had started to ebb away. Really, he just wanted to sleep for a million years. Sleep and breathe.
Peter nodded, letting Tony pick him up. He sucked in a breath at the pain still present in his chest and turned his head into Tony’s shoulder.
Peter suddenly remembered the conversation he’d had with the man. His voice echoed in his head. Well, Pete, we both know you won’t be winning any awards for secret keeping. His heart sank.
“I—I’m . . . Sorry,” Peter said, gripping Tony’s shirt in his fist.
Tony looked down at him. “Nothing to be sorry for, bud.” Peter wanted to disagree, to explain to Tony that no, he did have something to be sorry for. If that man knew his real identity, what other secrets might he know? And what awful things could he do with that information? But Peter was so exhausted, and speaking took so much effort that he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
The sound of someone clearing their throat made Peter look up. Dr. Strange stood behind Tony, hands ready to make a portal.
“W-why—” Peter stuttered, confused.
Strange started to say something but Tony cut him off. “He’s gonna fix you up.”
Peter nodded and let his head rest against Tony’s chest. He was asleep again before they walked through the portal.
“Start talking, Stark,” Strange said, squaring his shoulders.
Tony crossed his arms. “Okay. I will admit, I was not completely outright with the details of the entire situation—”
“You got that right—”
“But in my defense I wasn’t planning on some nut job attempting to strangle the kid.”
“He didn’t seem like just ‘some nut job,’ Stark,” Strange said as he pulled something out of his pocket. In his hand were four small stones, dark and reflective. “These were on the floor where our mystery man disappeared.”
Tony squinted down at the stones. Something about them seemed familiar, something Peter had said . . .
“I think it’s more of the alien tech Toomes created, some kind of . . . I don’t know, Pete called it a ‘matter phase shifter.’”
“Hold on a minute, alien technology? When were you going to tell me about this?”
“When it was important, McGonagall.”
Strange huffed, rolling his eyes.
“I’m not asking you to get involved in all this. I’m just asking you to take a look at my kid.”
“Well, consider me involved,” Strange said, moving past Tony and down the hall to the medbay, where Peter was.
It was Tony’s turn to roll his eyes. He started to follow but Strange stopped him. “Let me have a minute alone with him, alright?”
Tony’s eyebrows knit together. “Huh? No. Why?”
“Because you need to get yourself under control before you let him see you.” Tony started to protest but Strange kept talking. “I saw the way you were acting back there and you’re only going to freak him out more than he already is.”
Tony looked past him, down the hall where he could see the door. “Fine.”
Peter lay in the bed, eyes closed, feeling the pain ebb away bit by bit. It was down to a dull ache now, but the fear that had coursed through his body had done a number on him. Not to mention whatever drug that guy pumped him with. He let his fingers graze over his face, the bruises there smarting under his touch.
He opened his eyes at the sound of the door opening, hoping to see May or Tony, but instead looked up to see Doctor Strange as he entered the room.
“Peter,” Strange said. “I don’t believe we’ve ever formally met.”
Peter shook his head, confused and a little star-struck. He had been in the same room with him a few times but they’d never spoken before.
“Well, let me just tell you that I wish we didn’t have to be meeting like this,” Strange said, sitting in the chair next to his bed and holding out his hand. “Stephen Strange.”
Peter shook it, which was difficult for him. His hands were still shaking, like they didn’t really know what he wanted them to do. Strange pretended not to notice, but Peter could tell it worried him.
“W-why—”
“St—Tony wanted me to take a look at you, see if I can do anything the normal doctors can’t.”
“Oh,” Peter said, looking down at his hands. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. Dr. Strange was a great sorcerer but what did Peter know about the extent of his powers or what they’d work on?
“Let’s get started, then, shall we?” Strange said with a flourish of his hands.
Tony moved through the compound, not knowing where his feet were taking him. His brain refused to slow down, but Strange’s words echoed in his mind. You need to get yourself under control. He knew this was true but how? How could he calm down when there were so many things going wrong at the same damn time?
Eventually he looked up and found himself at the door to his lab. He went inside without another thought and walked straight over to his computer. He sat down hard in his swivel chair, almost toppling over, and pulled up all the information he had on the terrorist organization.
He scrolled through pages and pages of documents and surveillance intel he and the others had gathered over the last few months. It wasn’t enough, it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to keep Peter safe. How did they know?
Looking around the room, Tony saw Peter’s discarded suit lying on one of the far tables. He lurched towards it, fumbling for the thumb drive Peter had used back at the school, before everything had gone off the rails. He practically ran back to the computer and jammed the drive in.
“FRIDAY, sort through all of this for me,” he said, already starting to scroll through the information.
“Sir, it’s only one file copied over and over again. It’s just the layout of the building.”
“What?” Tony said, his heart rate spiking. “So we don’t have any new information?”
“It appears not.”
“Fuck,” Tony said, raking his hands through his hair. The entire operation had been for nothing, then. Peter had been hurt for nothing.
“Wait, it seems like there is a small difference in each file,” FRIDAY said after a moment. “There is a letter in the corner of each.” Tony’s screen shifted to show the letters. “If I arrange the letters together . . .”
Tony’s screen lit up with the words the letters spelled: “WE KNOW EVERYTHING.”
Tony gasped, nearly falling out of his chair. They knew. They knew everything. They knew the Avengers were onto them, knew Tony or someone was going to sneak in and try to get this information. They knew it all. And none of them had had a clue.
They were rubbing it in. They weren’t in the least bit scared of what the Avengers might do. They were clever, and fearless. Dear God, Tony thought. The hell am I supposed to do now?
Tony met Strange on his way back to Peter. He was so focused on making it there that he walked right past Strange, who was leaning against the wall across from the door. Strange put a hand on Tony’s shoulder before he could open it and walk in. Tony whipped around, staring at him intently, trying to appear less hopeful than he felt. “So what’s the verdict?”
Strange cleared his throat. “Like I told you before, Stark, head trauma is a tricky business—”
“But you’re good at tricks, you’re a magician.” Tony laughed a little at his joke, mostly in an effort to hide his ever increasing concern.
Strange didn’t laugh. “Good news is, he’s going to be okay. I did some ‘tricks’ that I believe will help.”
“But on the flip side of that. . . .”
“It’s going to take a while for him to get back to being himself again.”
“How long is ‘a while’?”
“It’s hard to tell. Like I said—tricky business.”
Tony nodded, staring at a spot on the wall just past Strange’s head. After a second he met his eyes again. “Well, Doc, do you think I’m stable enough to see my kid now?”
“As stable as you’ll ever be, I suppose.”
“Good enough,” Tony said, opening the door to the medbay.
As he walked in, Peter quickly turned his head away from the door, then looked back, his cheeks turning red.
“Eavesdropping, huh? Well, I guess it’s not that hard for you, anyway,” Tony said, pulling a chair up to the bed. Peter sat up a bit but didn’t say anything. “Strange filled me in, but you know that already. Said he did some magic, make you feel better?”
“Yeah, he—” Peter waved his hands in the air, doing a bad impression of Strange performing a spell.
Tony chuckled, but his smile slowly melted away. He stared down at Peter. “I’m glad you’re gonna be okay.”
Peter clamped his jaw shut, his eyes watering and flicking around the room. He nodded. “Who. . . who—um, who are those guys? Really?”
Tony’s mouth went dry. “Don’t worry about them, alright? I’m gonna take care of it.”
“That’s not—an answer,” Peter managed to get out.
“Okay, truth is—I’m not totally sure. But I’m working on it. You just focus on getting back to your chatty old self, you hear me?”
Peter scoffed and rolled his eyes. They were both silent for a moment. “They—they know. . .they know my name, they know I’m—I’m Spider-Man,” Peter whispered.
Tony went ice cold. “No, nope, you’re wrong. They were just trying to mess with your head, that’s all. They’re bad guys, that’s what they do, they mess with you.” He clenched his hands to keep them from shaking.
Peter looked up at him with that stubborn expression on his face. “Lying.”
“I’m not, I swear,” Tony said, eyes flicking around the room. Peter just scoffed again.
“Yeah, right. They said—they said my—”
Tony made a sound to cut him off. “Hey, I’ll tell you what you need to know when you need to know it, but right now there’s nothing you can do about it so you may as well get some rest.” He softened. “Let me deal with it, alright, bud?”
Peter wouldn’t meet his eyes. Tony gave him a tight smile and patted his knee as he rose to leave.
In the hallway, Tony heard quick footsteps coming towards him. May rounded a corner and nearly slammed into him. He caught her by the shoulders and she straightened and tucked her hair behind her ears.
“Where is he, is he alright? What happened at the hospital?” she asked, glancing down the hall at the door to the medbay.
“He’s okay.” Tony took a breath. “One of those goons found him so we had to get outta there. We couldn’t catch him though, which was a bummer.”
“Wait, ‘we?’ Who’s ‘we?’”
“Wizard friend of mine. He checked out the kid, did some work on him the doctors wouldn’t have been able to do. He said we’re in the clear, for the most part.”
May nodded, but she still looked uneasy. Tony didn’t want to freak her out even more by telling her what he’d found out. He silently hoped that she would stop asking questions. “I’m gonna go see him,” she said, pointing down the hall. Tony sighed, relieved, and motioned for her to go. “Coming with?” she asked.
“Nope, I just came from there. Don’t want him to get sick of me.” He tried to smile but he knew it didn’t look at all convincing.
“Okay, well. . . let me know if I can do anything to help,” May said, staring at him pointedly.
“You’re the best, May.”
Strange was pacing in front of the large wall of windows in the living area. The sun had just set, casting a purplish glow into the room. He didn’t seem to notice Tony when he walked in.
“Still here? I’m surprised, I thought you would’ve magicked away by now,” Tony said. Strange stopped pacing and turned to him.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t stay and help after you dragged me into the middle of. . . whatever this is?” Strange asked, looking mildly offended.
“I’ve got in all under control—”
“Yeah, no you don’t,” Strange interrupted. Tony opened his mouth to object but Strange gave him a look that cut him off again.
Tony cleared his throat. “Fine,” he said, crossing his arms. He was secretly grateful for Strange’s assistance.
“Now, tell me everything you know. And I mean everything this time.”
After Tony had shared all the information he had, which wasn’t much, Strange gave a big sigh and nodded his head. “So who else can we call in on this?”
“I’ve got a few people in mind, but some of my key players are out of the country on missions of their own,” Tony said, thinking of Natasha and Rodgers. Strange just nodded again, clearly thinking deeply. Tony just watched him.
After a moment, Strange looked up at Tony. He seemed to be able to see right through him. “You’ve got a special kid, there, Stark,” he said, keeping his eyes on Tony.
Tony clasped his hands. “Where’re you going with this?” he asked.
“I can tell how much you care for him, the lengths you would go to in order to keep him safe.”
“M-hm, and?”
“I just want to make sure you don’t let any weaknesses be taken advantage of. Again.”
Tony let out an exasperated laugh. “Let’s get to work, shall we?”
Peter stared up at the dark ceiling, watching the shadows shift with the movement of the trees outside his window. May and Tony had allowed him to sleep in his own room instead of the medbay. Secretly, he preferred his bed back at the apartment over this one, but the lack of medical instruments made this room the obvious choice. And he couldn’t leave the compound, anyway, for reasons Tony wouldn’t fully explain.
Unable to sleep, Peter replayed the last few days in his head, what he could remember, at least. He knew that they knew his name, his identity. They most likely knew where he lived, where he went to school, his friends, his family. His stomach twisted. They got him good. He hadn’t tried to use any of his powers besides his hearing, which worked, thank god, but who knew what had been damaged by the attacks on him? His brain was messed up, he couldn’t speak right or move like he was supposed to. How would he be able to fight these people if he couldn’t even sign his own name? Strange said he’d be fine with some rest but what if they came back? What if they used their information to hurt the ones he loved, and him powerless to stop them?
He needed to get better, and fast. There was no telling how soon an attack could be. Peter clenched his fists by his sides. Tony was being overprotective again. Didn’t he realize that Peter wanted to help? He had fought Toomes and his tech before, he was the one who saw that man up close at the hospital. But Tony would rather trust a practical stranger over him, who had been by his side on countless missions. Granted, Strange was a pretty cool and powerful stranger, but still. Would Tony really leave him out of the loop just because of a stupid concussion?
Just then, he heard a knock on the door. He flipped over, facing away from the door, and pretended to be asleep. The door creaked open and a sliver of light fell across the floor.
“Pete, you awake?” Tony whispered. Peter didn’t move. There was a pause where Tony seemed to stand there looking in, but after a moment he quietly shut the door. He heard the hushed voices of Tony and Strange move away down the hall.
Tony was used to getting no sleep. A bad habit, he knew, but these were dire circumstances. Strange, surprisingly, seemed wide awake as well, despite the offensively early hour of the morning. Tony looked over at him, rubbing his eyes from the strain of reading off a computer screen for so long. Strange was glued to his own screen, eyes darting back and forth as he read.
Tony threw a wad of paper at him, which made him jump, turn, and raise his eyebrows accusingly. “How’re you still conscious?” Tony asked. “We’ve been at this for hours.”
Strange turned back to his screen. “Research, studying. It’s what I’m good at.”
Tony nodded to himself. “Find anything good?”
Strange glanced over at him. “Well, you don’t have the most extensive pool of information on these guys. . .”
“I’m aware.”
“But I did manage to draw some connections between what you know about them and what you know about Adrian Toomes. Since they’re using his tech we can assume that they at least know each other, if not worked together. You said that one of the guys mentioned him. . . . There are some payment records you have between Toomes and an unknown buyer. . . . It seems to be the largest purchase of alien weapons here. . . . From what you said about the abandoned school this could have been them. It’s time stamped shortly before Toomes was incarcerated.”
Tony opened his mouth to say something, but Strange wasn’t done. “Maybe they were planning something bigger together, bigger than the plane robbery. Toomes may have let something slip about Peter—”
“Not possible,” Tony interrupted. “We cleared it with Toomes, he wasn’t gonna talk about what he knew—”
It was Strange’s turn to interrupt. “You spoke with him? When was this?”
“The kid and I went to visit him before he was moved to the Raft. Pete just wanted to check up on him, he felt bad . . . I was there to make sure Toomes would keep quiet. Didn’t even have to threaten him, though, I could tell he wasn’t gonna say anything.”
“Well these guys are smart, they must have been watching him, made the connection when they saw you and Peter visit,” Strange said with a sigh.
“So it’s my fault,” Tony said like he already knew it was the truth.
Strange looked at him incredulously. “What? No, Tony, of course not.”
Tony didn’t seem to hear him. “I was the one that said it was okay to go—I knew he was already vulnerable, that people wanted to hurt him. And then I go and bring him along on that mission . . . God, I thought I was done making stupid decisions.” He breathed in sharply and let his head fall into his hands.
He heard Strange stand up and walk over to him. “Hey,” he said softly. Tony slowly lifted his head. “You’re not alone in this. Whatever you may think, this is not because of you. And I’m here to help now. We’re not going to let anything happen to the kid. I’ll make sure of that, and I know you will too.”
Tony sat back in his chair, staring at a point over Strange’s shoulder. “I knew I made the right choice calling you in on this. Wizards are even smarter than I thought.”
Strange chuckled. “You’re not so bad yourself, Iron Man.”